This invention relates to conveyorized meat processing facilities in which bodies of meat are affixed to a moving conveyor by means of lateral meat-impaling elements attached to the conveyor. More specifically, the invention pertains to a conveyor equipped with means for shifting the meat laterally of the conveyor in order to place the meat in impaled engagement on the impaling elements.
The primary use of this invention is in connection with the processing of pork sides. Customarily, pork sides are placed on a slat table conveyor, the upper surface of which is provided at spaced intervals with laterally-oriented impaling devices referred to as hooks. The sides are positioned in alignment with one of the hooks and then manually shifted laterally by a first operator to impale the side on the hook. A second operator, equipped with a two-handled loin pulling knife requiring manipulation by both hands, severs the loin from the side while the side is held in place by the side hooks.
The present invention accomplishes the function formerly performed by the first operator, i.e. it shifts the meat laterally of the conveyor into impaled engagement on the hooks so that the second operator may cut the loin from the side. This is a cost-reducing improvement as it eliminates the need for the first operator. Further, the apparatus of the invention is quite uncomplicated and inexpensive.
According to the present invention, a meat conveyor having lateral hooks is driven in a given direction, and a shifting means positioned above the conveyor in the path of the advancing bodies of meat shifts the meat laterally on the conveyor into impaled engagement on the lateral hooks. The meat-shifting means has a meat-engaging portion guided for movement in a path which is convergent to the conveyor direction and has a lateral component opposed to the hooks, causing meat engaged by the shifting means to be shifted laterally of the conveyor and driven into impaled engagement on said hooks.
Preferably, the meat-engaging portion is the lower portion of a rotary member, the rotational axis of which lies at an acute angle to the conveyor direction. The rotary member may have a toothed circular peripheral edge for engaging the meat, and be downwardly biased by a weighting chamber therein fillable with a fluent weighting material to apply a substantially constant downward force on the meat. The quantity of such weighting material is selected to apply sufficient force to the meat. The rotary member is supported on a pivoted support arm having an intermediate pivot, permitting it to move upwardly to maintain contact with the meat passing thereunder. The opposite end of the arm carries a flexible member which is anchored to limit the downward movement of the rotary member. It is also preferred that the hooks on the conveyor be spaced apart a distance no more than about six inches which is closer than the spacings previously employed in loin pulling slat table conveyors.
The invention also pertains to a method for pulling pork loins from pork sides on conveyors having lateral hooks, such a method being performed by placing a pork side in unimpaled engagement over the hooks, advancing the conveyor while engaging the upper surface of the side with a rotary member which has its rotational axis lying at an acute angle to the forward direction, rotating the rotary member while engaged with the side to shift the side laterally on the conveyor toward the impaling ends of the hooks into impaled engagement on the hooks, and cutting the pork loin from the impaled side.
For a complete understanding of the invention, reference is made to the appended drawings and the following description.